Jeanne Ray
I would recommend this book to anyone who love baking cakes and eating cakes. It is an easy read which is inspiring and satisfying to most. Ruth is a lady who loves to bake cakes as a way to relax and as her family members get increasing hard to handle, she begins to channel her caking-baking skills as a means to earn extra family income. The cakes which she baked sound absolutely delicious, I was thrilled to find the recipes of the cakes at the back of the novel. However most of the recipes are not for novice baker (moi).
Sweet Potato Bundt Cake with Rum Plumped Raisins and a Spiked Sugar glaze
Cake
3/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 dark rum
2 large or 3 medium-sized sweet potatoes
4 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup mild-flavored vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus extra for salting the water
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup buttermilk
Additional unsalted butter, at room temperature, for greasing the pans
Additional all-purpose flour, for dusting the tins
Glaze
1/2 cup tightly packed dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons whipping cream 35%
Remaining rum macerating liquid from raisins
1) Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt cake pan. In a small non-reactive bowl, soak the raisins in the rum for at least 30 mins or several hrs. Meanwhil peel the sweet potatoes, cut them in half and then cut each half into 4 inch slices. Place the slices into a pot of cooled salted water, cover, and then cook untill the sweet potatoes are very tender when pierced with a sharp knife. Drain off the water and allow the potatoes to air-dry for a few minutes, then use a potato masher or large fork to roughly mash them. Measure out 2 cups of the mash and set aside to cool.
2) In a large bowl with a whish or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs a little just to break them up. Add the sugar and beat untill the mixture is thick and pale, about 2 mins with a mixer, 3 if whisking by hand. Add the vegetable oil and vanilla, then beat to blend. Drain the raisins and set aside, but add 1/4 cup of the rum macerating liquid to the batter. Add the mashed sweet potatoes and mix untill thoroughly combined, scrapping down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
3) Into a seperate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add the flour mixture to the batter in 3 additions, alternating with the buttermilk in 2 additins, begining and ending with dry ingredients. Fold in the raisins.
4) Pour the entire batter into bundt pan. Bake in the center of the oven 1 hour to 1 hour and 20 mins, or untill a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, and the cake is just begining to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool the cake in the pan set on a wire rack for 10 mins, then unvert onto the rack. set the rack over a baking sheet or large plate to catch the excess glaze. This cake must be glazed while still warm, so it absorbs the maximum syrup-so dont take it out of the oven and go to the movies!
5) For the glaze, combine the brown sugar, butter and cream in a small, heavy bottomed sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring untill the sugar dissolves. Continue to boil untill the mixture thicken somewhat, abt 3 mins, stirring often. Remove the glaze from the heat and stir in the rum. With a long wooden or metal skewer, poke holes all over the cake, concentrating on the top. Spoon half the warm glaze over the cake and let the remaining glaze cool for 10 to 15 mins, untill it has thickended slightly. Pour the rest of the glaze over the cake, letting it dribble down the sides, then allow the cake to cool completely before cuttin and serving or wrapping and storing.
In the Sweet Kitchen by Regan Daley. Artisan/Workman Publisher, 2001
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